HUNGARIAN privatisation agency ÁPV last week said that it would begin negotiations with AirBridge Rt, a Russian-Hungarian consortium, after evaluating final offers in the tender to privatize Malév, the loss-making state-owned Hungarian airline.

ÁPV said it wished to clarify the investor guarantees and ensure the business plan would be in line with the short- and long-term business interests of the national flag carrier.

This is the third recent tender to privatize Malév, following several aborted attempts in the 1990s.

Both AirBridge and its principal rival, Aviation Solution Kft, a consortium founded by Hungarian entrepreneurs, including some of Malév's former management, offered similar bids of around Ft150 mn ($750,000), according to Hungarian media reports. Both bidders are also obliged to take on Malév's foreign currency debt of Ft 32-36 bn.

However, AirBridge has reportedly pledged more in the form a capital increase for the cash-strapped Malév.

Boris Abramovich, the head of Russian airline KrasAir, which holds a 49% stake in AirBridge, is due to take part in talks with ÁPV in Budapest this week, Sandor Nemeth, of Capital Communications, which represents Airbridge in Hungary, confirmed on Monday. Abramovich, who holds stakes in a total of five Russian carriers, hopes